Fair Star of Antwerp: Difference between revisions
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Work by other scholars on other LPD plays gives a clue that might yield new progress on this one. It has not, I believe, been hitherto suggested, and but - surely the title indicates that the play dramatizes the story of the Proud Woman of Antwerp? For the story, related by Philip Stubbes, see the LPD entry on '''''[[Friar Rush and the Proud Woman of Antwerp]]''''', a lost play acted by the Admiral's Men in 1602. Basically, the Proud Woman story is a tragic one; about a beautiful woman; set in Antwerp. ''Friar Rush and the Proud Woman of Antwerp'' shows that it is one which had already been found suitable for dramatization on the English professional stage. | Work by other scholars on other LPD plays gives a clue that might yield new progress on this one. It has not, I believe, been hitherto suggested, and but - surely the title indicates that the play dramatizes the story of the Proud Woman of Antwerp? For the story, related by Philip Stubbes, see the LPD entry on '''''[[Friar Rush and the Proud Woman of Antwerp]]''''', a lost play acted by the Admiral's Men in 1602. Basically, the Proud Woman story is a tragic one; about a beautiful woman; set in Antwerp. ''Friar Rush and the Proud Woman of Antwerp'' shows that it is one which had already been found suitable for dramatization on the English professional stage. | ||
If this suggestion is tenable, then we can say a little more about the genre of ''The Fair Star of Antwerp'', which would, for instance, necessarily have featured a devil. Additionally, it would make ''The Fair Star of Antwerp'', like ''Jugurtha'', a reworking of a story which had featured in a late-Elizabethan Admiral's Men play. In reconstructing a repertoire after the fire, the Palsgrave's Men were, arguably, going back to their roots. | If this suggestion is tenable, then we can say a little more about the genre of ''The Fair Star of Antwerp'', which would, for instance, necessarily have featured a devil to corrupt and murder the heroine. Additionally, it would make ''The Fair Star of Antwerp'', like ''Jugurtha'', a reworking of a story which had featured in a late-Elizabethan Admiral's Men play. In reconstructing a repertoire after the fire, the Palsgrave's Men were, arguably, going back to their roots. | ||
==Works Cited== | ==Works Cited== | ||
Revision as of 09:59, 25 July 2011
Historical Records
The Office-Book of Sir Henry Herbert
- For the Palsg: Comp: - A Trag: called the Faire Star of Antwerp 15th Sept. 1624 1 li.
(Bawcutt, 156)
Theatrical Provenance
Palsgrave's Company at the Fortune
Probable Genre(s)
Tragedy; devil play?
Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues
See "For what it's worth"
References to the Play
None known
Critical Commentary
This is one of a group of at least fifteen new plays licensed by Herbert between July 1623 and November 1624 for the Palsgrave’s Company, formerly the Admiral's Men. In 1621, their theatre, the Fortune, had burnt down, and three years later they were still attempting to recover from the destruction not merely of their venue but also, it is thought, of their stock of playbooks: hence the concentration of new writing for this company, unparalleled in Herbert's records. As far as one can tell (fourteen of the fifteen being lost), the post-fire licensings represented an attempt to rebuild a working repertory. See Gurr, Shakespeare's Opposites, 47; Bentley, 1.149; Bentley, 5.1327-8)
Another member of the group, Jugurtha, seems to have been a reworking of an old Admiral's Men play from around 1600: see the LPD entry on Jurgurtha (King of Numidia).
In its own right, the lost The Fair Star of Antwerp has been very little discussed.
For What It's Worth
EEBO-TCP searches currently shed no obvious light on the phrase "fair star of Antwerp".
Work by other scholars on other LPD plays gives a clue that might yield new progress on this one. It has not, I believe, been hitherto suggested, and but - surely the title indicates that the play dramatizes the story of the Proud Woman of Antwerp? For the story, related by Philip Stubbes, see the LPD entry on Friar Rush and the Proud Woman of Antwerp, a lost play acted by the Admiral's Men in 1602. Basically, the Proud Woman story is a tragic one; about a beautiful woman; set in Antwerp. Friar Rush and the Proud Woman of Antwerp shows that it is one which had already been found suitable for dramatization on the English professional stage.
If this suggestion is tenable, then we can say a little more about the genre of The Fair Star of Antwerp, which would, for instance, necessarily have featured a devil to corrupt and murder the heroine. Additionally, it would make The Fair Star of Antwerp, like Jugurtha, a reworking of a story which had featured in a late-Elizabethan Admiral's Men play. In reconstructing a repertoire after the fire, the Palsgrave's Men were, arguably, going back to their roots.
Works Cited
Gurr, Andrew. Shakespeare's Opposites: The Admiral's Company 1594-1625. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2009.
Site created and maintained by Matthew Steggle, Sheffield Hallam University; updated 25 July 2011.